“The girls and a boy were brought to New Delhi by train on December 6, 2012, by Adam Harpal with the promise of lucrative jobs but were later sold to different families as domestic workers for Rs 40,000 each,” Vidhya Kamble, the secretary of Bharatiya Kinnar Sarva Samaj Seva Samiti, told The Telegraph.

The 21-year-old girl, who was rescued by the NGOs, was sold to a family in Nagpur whe re she used to look after children and do other household chores. “But when she protested and wanted to go home, the family released her. After that she came to us for help,” Kamble said.

“Along with Pragatishil Ghorelu Kaamgar Mahila Sangathan Samiti we filed an FIR at Nagpur Sadar police station against the family who tortured the girl by depriving her of the salary promised to her and denying her food. But the police tried to shield the family,” she said.

Hiranya Kumar Dohutia, officer-in-charge of Golaghat police station, said the NGOs have brought six girls and a boy to them who were trafficked from various tea gardens in Letekujan, Udayan and Morongi. The other girls and the boy somehow managed to escape and reach home.

“We are recording their statements and a case has been registered against Harpal based on the FIR filed by the family members of the victims,” Dohutia said.

“We staged a six-day protest against police inaction in Nagpur in January and were able to contact the family members of the victim before handing her over to her family,” Radhika Hedao, an activist championing the cause of domestic workers, said.